Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad Co. v. United States

In 1911, the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad Company, plaintiff-appellee herein, sold an issue of gold sterling bonds secured by a mortgage on its properties, to mature in 1961. These bonds were sold for English pounds sterling, were payable in pounds sterling, and each bond had a par value of 100 pounds. For each pound of the sales price of the bonds, the plaintiff received $4.8666, the dollar value of the pound in 1911, and set up its obligation accordingly in dollars on its books. In 1916 and 1917, all except 3925 of such bonds then outstanding were stamped with a legend, making them payable in dollars at the fixed rate of $4.8665 per pound sterling. None of the bonds here in issue were so stamped.